Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the perceived likelihood of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same, or believed to be the same, players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
In some cases, a “secondary” or “bonus” game may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome in the basic game. Generally, bonus games provide a greater expectation of winning than the basic game and may also be accompanied with more attractive or unusual video displays and/or audio. Bonus games may additionally award players with “progressive jackpot” awards that are funded, at least in part, by a percentage of coin-in from the gaming machine or a plurality of participating gaming machines. Because the bonus game concept offers enhanced player appeal and excitement relative to other known games, there is a continuing need to develop gaming machines with new types of bonus games to satisfy the demands of players and operators.
Gaming machines have also utilized a variety of input devices for receiving input from a player, such as buttons and touch screen devices. However, these input devices are limited in that they can receive only one input at a time from the player. For example, if a player touches a singlepoint sensing device such as a singlepoint touch screen device at two distinct points simultaneously, only one coordinate is provided by the touch screen driver corresponding to one of the distinct points only or to a single average point between the two points. The inability of the player to interact with the gaming machine and other players by providing multiple inputs simultaneously is a significant disadvantage to gaming machines heretofore.
In wagering games that make use of private information (e.g., the identity of a hole card in a poker hand), it can be useful to keep the information confidential. In this way, the player with substantially exclusive access to the information can maintain his advantage over other players, by selectively excluding others from obtaining the same information.